SYRIZA Offers Tax Cheats Amnesty

ATHENS – After having pressed for tax cheats to pay or be prosecuted, the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA government now is offering them amnesty if they pay a fee.

The plan reportedly would get major tax criminals off the hook even those under prosecution and facing lengthy jail sentences.

The scheme would require admitted tax cheats storing their money in secret foreign bank accounts to pay a 15 percent tax and be allowed to keep the rest out of the country.

For tax evaders who have undeclared money in Greek banks the fine would be 30 percent, prompting critics to say that would encourage them to also move their money out of the country to halve the penalty. Tax penalties now are 45 percent for convicted cheats.

The new bill provides for immunity from any legal action over illegal incomes that will be declared, Kathimerini said. Foreign bank account holders who legalize their funds will not even have to repatriate their capital, contradicting SYRIZA’s tough stand when it was in the opposition.